Power sensitive wireless communication radio management

ABSTRACT

In one example, a wearable device includes one or more processors, a plurality of communication components, one or more motion sensors configured to detect motion of the wearable device and generate, based on the detected motion, motion data, and a storage device configured to store at least one module. The at least one module may be operable by the one or more processors to: responsive to determining that the wearable device is not connected to the computing device using the first communication technology, determine, based on the motion data, whether the wearable device is currently being worn, and responsive to determining that the wearable device is currently being worn, establish the wireless connection to the computing device using the second communication component.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/958,902, filed Dec. 3, 2015, the contents of which are incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND

One feature of a mobile or wearable device is the device's operationaluse time, i.e. the duration for which the device may be continuouslyused as a function of the device's stored energy (e.g. battery)capacity. Most mobile devices are designed to automatically search orpoll for signals from various wireless communication networks (e.g.cellular phone, Wi-Fi, 3G, etc.) and/or to search or poll for otherdevices using various wireless communication technologies (e.g.,Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi Direct®, etc.), regardless of what other devices themobile device is currently connected. When sending or receiving data,mobile devices typically use such wireless communication networks ortechnologies. However, each different type of wireless technology uses adifferent amount of electrical power. Typically, mobile devices areconfigured to transfer data using the fastest data connection available(i.e., the data connection having the greatest available bandwidth).

SUMMARY

In some examples a method includes predicting, by a wearable device, anamount of data to be transferred from a computing device, anddetermining, by the wearable device, based on the amount of data, aparticular wireless communication technology from a plurality ofwireless communication technologies of the wearable computing devicepredicted to use the least amount of power for transferring the data.The method may also include determining, by the wearable device, whetherthe wearable device can connect to the computing device using theparticular wireless communication technology, and, responsive todetermining that the wearable device can connect to the computing deviceusing the particular wireless communication technology, transferring, bythe wearable device and using the particular wireless communicationtechnology, the data.

In some example, a method includes determining, by a wearable device,whether the wearable device is connected to a computing device using afirst wireless communication technology from a plurality of wirelesscommunication technologies of the wearable device, and responsive todetermining that the wearable device is not connected to the computingdevice using the first wireless communication technology, determining,by the wearable device, whether the wearable device is currently beingworn. The method may also include, responsive to determining that thewearable device is currently being worn: determining, by the wearabledevice, whether the wearable device can connect to the computing deviceusing a second wireless communication technology from the plurality ofwireless communication technologies, wherein the first wirelesscommunication technology uses less power to establish and maintain aconnection with the computing device than the second wirelesscommunication technology, and, responsive to determining that thewearable device can connect to the computing device using the secondwireless communication technology, establishing, by the wearable device,a connection to the network using the second wireless communicationtechnology.

In another example, a wearable device includes one or more processors, aplurality of communication components each associated with a respectivewireless communication technology, wherein at least a firstcommunication component from the plurality of communication componentsis active, and wherein at least a second communication component fromthe plurality of communication components is inactive, one or moremotion sensors configured to detect motion of the wearable device andgenerate, based on the detected motion, motion data, and a storagedevice configured to store at least one module. The at least one modulemay be operable by the one or more processors to: determine whether thewearable device is connected to a computing device using the firstcommunication component, responsive to determining that the wearabledevice is not connected to the computing device using the firstcommunication technology, determine, based on the motion data, whetherthe wearable device is currently being worn. The module may be furtheroperable by the one or more processors to: responsive to determiningthat the wearable device is currently being worn: activate the secondcommunication component, determine whether the wearable device canconnect to the computing device using the second communicationcomponent, wherein the first communication component uses less power toestablish and maintain a wireless connection with the computing devicethan the second communication component, and, responsive to determiningthat the wearable device can connect to the computing device using thesecond communication component, establish the wireless connection to thecomputing device using the second communication component.

The details of one or more examples of the disclosure are set forth inthe accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features,objects, and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from thedescription and drawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example system thatincludes computing devices that intelligently manage communicationcomponents in accordance with one or more techniques of this disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example configuration of awearable device that intelligently manages communication components inaccordance with one or more techniques of this disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a table illustrating example communication component states,in accordance with one or more techniques of this disclosure.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are flowcharts illustrating example operations of awearable device, in accordance with one or more techniques of thisdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In general, the disclosure is directed to techniques for power sensitiveintelligent wireless communication radio management, which may reducepower consumption by a computing device (e.g., cellular phone, tabletcomputer, computerized watch or eyeglasses, etc.) when sending orreceiving data. For instance, a computing device commonly has more thanone wireless communication radio, where each radio may be capable ofreceiving and/or transmitting a signal (e.g. cellular, Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G,LTE, Bluetooth®, etc.). Each wireless communication radio may use adifferent amount of power for sending or receiving a particular amountof data. The computing device may determine how much data is likely tobe transferred and may select a wireless communication radio to use forthe data transfer based on the total amount of power likely to berequired to complete the data transfer. That is, techniques of thisdisclosure may enable a computing device to minimize the amount ofelectrical power required to transfer data by intelligently selectingthe wireless communication radio used to perform the data transfer.

In some examples, in addition to intelligently selecting the wirelesscommunication radio, the computing device may selectively activate,deactivate, or adjust reconnection attempt parameters of one or morewireless communication radios based on a current context of thecomputing device. The current context may include one or moreconnections to other computing devices, detected movement of thecomputing device, computing device usage history, current location ofthe computing device, current charge level or state of the computingdevice, activity state of a user of the computing device, current time,etc. By actively managing the power state and/or reconnection policiesof the wireless communication radios, the computing device may reducethe power usage of the computing device, thereby increasing the batterylife of the computing device or enabling the computing device to utilizea smaller battery to achieve the same battery life.

Throughout the disclosure, examples are described wherein a computingdevice and/or computing system may analyze information (e.g., locations,speeds, accelerations) associated with the computing device andinformation (e.g., captured images, communications, calendars, files andnotes) associated with the user of the computing device only if thecomputing device and/or the computing system receives explicitpermission from the user of the computing device to analyze theinformation. For example, in situations discussed below in which thecomputing device and/or computing system may collect or may make use ofinformation associated with the user and the computing device, the usermay be provided with an opportunity to provide input to control whetherprograms or features of the computing device and/or computing system cancollect and make use of user images and information (e.g., informationabout a user's e-mail, a user's social network, social actions oractivities, profession, a user's preferences, or a user's past andcurrent location), or to dictate whether and/or how the computing deviceand/or computing system may receive content that may be relevant to theuser. In addition, certain data may be treated in one or more waysbefore it is stored or used by the computing device and/or computingsystem, so that personally-identifiable information is removed. Forexample, a user's identity may be treated so that no personallyidentifiable information can be determined about the user, or a user'sgeographic location may be generalized where location information isobtained (such as to a city, ZIP code, or state level), so that aparticular location of a user cannot be determined. Thus, the user mayhave control over how information is collected about the user and usedby the computing device and/or computing system.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example system thatincludes computing devices that intelligently manage communicationcomponents in accordance with one or more techniques of this disclosure.The example system of FIG. 1 includes computing device 100, wearablecomputing device 102, and network 104. Computing device 100 and wearablecomputing device 102 may be companion devices. That is, both computingdevice 100 and wearable computing device 102 may be associated with asingle user and one device, such as wearable computing device 102, mayrequire connectivity to the other device (e.g., computing device 100) inorder to be fully functional.

In the example of FIG. 1, computing device 100 is a smartphone. However,other examples of, computing device 100 may be a cellular phone, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, a tablet computer,a portable gaming device, a portable media player, an e-book reader, awatch, or another type of portable or mobile device. In the example ofFIG. 1, wearable computing device 102 is a wearable computing device(e.g., a computerized watch or so-called smart watch device). However,in other examples, wearable computing device 102 may be a mobile phone,a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptopcomputer, a portable gaming device, a portable media player, an e-bookreader, a television platform, an automobile computing platform orsystem, a fitness tracker, or any other type of mobile or non-mobilecomputing device capable of intelligently managing wirelesscommunication radios in accordance with one or more of the techniquesdescribed herein.

Network 104 represents any public or private communication network, forinstance, a cellular, Wi-Fi, and/or other type of network fortransmitting data between computing devices. Computing device 100 andwearable computing device 102 may send and receive data across network100 using any suitable communication techniques. For example, computingdevice 100 may be operatively coupled to network 104 using network link105 and wearable computing device 102 may be operatively coupled tonetwork 104 by network link 107. Network 104 may include network hubs,network switches, network routers, and other network devices that areoperatively inter-coupled thereby providing for the exchange ofinformation between computing device 100 and wearable computing device102. In some examples, network links 105 and 107 may be Ethernet,Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network, or other network connectionsand such connections may be wireless and/or wired connections, includingcellular network connections.

Computing device 100 and wearable computing device 102 may also exchangeinformation without traversing network 104 by, for example, using directlink 109. Direct link 109 may be any network communication protocol ormechanism capable of enabling two computing devices to communicatedirectly (i.e., without requiring a network switch, hub, or otherintermediary network device), such as Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi Direct®,near-field communication, etc.

As shown in FIG. 1, computing device 100 is a mobile computing device.However, in other examples, computing device 110 may be a tabletcomputer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop computer, aportable gaming device, a portable media player, an e-book reader, awatch, a television platform, an automobile navigation system, awearable computing device (e.g., a headset device, watch device, eyeweardevice, a glove device), or other type of computing device. Computingdevice 100 may include presence-sensitive display 106 and communication(COMM) components 108.

Presence-sensitive display 106 of computing device 100 may function asan input device for computing device 110 and as an output device.Presence-sensitive display 106 may be implemented using varioustechnologies. For instance, presence-sensitive display 106 may functionas an input device using a presence-sensitive input component, such as aresistive touchscreen, a surface acoustic wave touchscreen, a capacitivetouchscreen, a projective capacitance touchscreen, a pressure sensitivescreen, an acoustic pulse recognition touchscreen, or anotherpresence-sensitive display technology. Presence-sensitive display 106may function as an output (e.g., display) device using any one or moredisplay components, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), dot matrixdisplay, light emitting diode (LED) display, organic light-emittingdiode (OLED) display, e-ink, or similar monochrome or color displaycapable of outputting visible information to a user of computing device100. Communication components 108 may include wireless communicationdevices capable of transmitting and/or receiving communication signalssuch as a cellular radio, a 3G radio, a Bluetooth® radio, or a Wi-Firadio.

As shown in FIG. 1, wearable computing device 102 may include powermanagement module 110, communication (COMM) selection module 112, andcommunication (COMM) components 114A-114N (collective, “communicationcomponents 114”). Examples of communication components 114 includewireless communication devices capable of transmitting and/or receivingcommunication signals such as a cellular radio, a 3G radio, a Bluetooth®radio, or a Wi-Fi radio. Modules 110 and 112 may perform operationsdescribed herein using software, hardware, or a mixture of both hardwareand software residing in and executing on wearable computing device 102.Wearable computing device 102 may execute modules 110 and 112 withmultiple processors. Wearable computing device 102 may execute modules110 and 112 as a virtual machine on underlying hardware.

In a default setting, wearable computing device 102 may operate with allcommunication components 114 activated (e.g., turned on and consumingelectrical power). In accordance with techniques of the disclosure,wearable computing device 102 may automatically deactivate and/oractivate individual communication components 114, which may preservestored electrical energy. Wearable computing device 102 may determinewhich of communication components 114 to activate and use based on acontext of wearable computing device 102. The context may include anycombination of factors, such as whether computing device 100 isreachable from wearable computing device 102 using a particular one ofcommunication components 114, a type of data being transferred betweencomputing device 100 and wearable computing device 102, a current timeof day, an amount of charge remaining in a battery of wearable computingdevice 102, a predicted amount of future usage before a predictedrecharge time, a monetary cost to transfer data, etc.

Wearable computing device 102 may prioritize relatively lower powercommunication components 114 over relatively higher power communicationcomponents 114. For example, Bluetooth® radios typically require lesspower to operate than Wi-Fi radios, which, in turn, typically requireless power to operate than cellular radios. In such an example,communication selection module 112 may activate a Bluetooth® radio(e.g., configure communication component 114A to be active) anddeactivate other communication components 114 of wearable computingdevice (i.e., configure the other communication components 114 to beinactive), including a Wi-Fi radio (e.g., communication component 114B)and a cellular radio (e.g., communication component 114C).

However, in examples, where wearable computing device 102 is paired tocomputing device 100 (e.g., configured as a companion device tocomputing device 100), communication selection module 112 may activate arelatively higher power communication component so as to maintain a dataconnection with computing device 100. For example, if wearable computingdevice 102 is not communicatively coupled to computing device 100 usingBluetooth® (e.g., computing device 100 is outside of the range ofBluetooth®, the Bluetooth® radio of computing device 100 is turned off,etc.), communication selection module 112 may deactivate communicationcomponent 114A and activate communication component 114B, a Wi-Fi radio,even though the Wi-Fi radio typically uses more power than a Bluetooth®radio. Similarly, if wearable computing device 102 is notcommunicatively coupled to computing device 100 using either Bluetooth®or Wi-Fi, communication selection module 112 may deactivatecommunication components 114A and 114B, and activate communicationcomponent 114C (e.g., a cellular radio) and attempt to connect tocomputing device 100 using cellular. While this example describesdeactivating the Bluetooth® radio (e.g., communication component 114A),in other examples, communication component 114A remains active andcontinues to monitor for available Bluetooth® devices, includingcomputing device 100. In such examples, if wearable computing device 102is able to establish a Bluetooth® connection to computing device 100,communication selection module 112 may deactivate the othercommunication components 114 (i.e., configure the other communicationcomponents 114 to be inactive).

Power management module 110 may monitor various characteristics ofwearable computing device 102 and the data being exchanged betweencomputing device 100 and wearable computing device 102. For example,power management module 110 may monitor a current charge level of abattery or other power component of wearable computing device 102. Ifpower management module 110 predicts that the battery will run out ofpower prior to a predicted time at which wearable computing device 102will be connected to a charger, power management module 110 may causecommunication selection component to prioritize power savings overconnectivity to computing device 100. For example, power managementmodule 110 may cause communication selection module 112 to disable allradios, including Bluetooth®, so as to enable wearable computing device102 to at least display a current time until the predicted rechargetime.

Power management module 110 may also configure a Wi-Fi scan rate basedon an amount of charge remaining in the battery and based on theconnection state of communication components 114. For example, ifwearable computing device 102 is unable to establish a Bluetooth®connection to computing device 100 and if wearable computing device 102is running off of batter power (i.e., not currently plugged in orcharging), power management module 100 may configure the Wi-Fi radio(e.g., communication component 114B) to perform a Wi-Fi scan at areduced periodic interval, such as once every three minutes as comparedto if wearable computing device 102 were plugged in or charging (e.g.,once every thirty seconds). As another example, if wearable computingdevice is connected to the Internet and/or computing device 100 via acellular radio (e.g., communication component 114C) connection, powermanagement module 110 may further reduce the frequency of Wi-Fi scansto, for example, once every ten minutes.

Computing device 100 and wearable computing device 102 may exchangedata, such as voice data (e.g., for a telephone call), audio data (e.g.,music), video data (e.g., movies), image data (e.g., still pictures),application data, sensor data, etc. In various instances, wearablecomputing device 102 may select a particular radio to use for datatransfer based on any combination of one or more of the type of data, apredicted amount of data to be transferred, and an amount of powerrequired to transmit a unit of data between computing device 100 andwearable computing device 102. For example, while Bluetooth® may requireless power to maintain a connection to computing device 100, Bluetooth®may require more power than Wi-Fi to transmit relatively larger amountof data. That is, Bluetooth® may have a higher per megabyte power costthan Wi-Fi. Similarly, cellular may have a higher per megabyte powercost than Wi-Fi, but may have a lower per megabyte power cost thanBluetooth®. In some examples, the estimated power cost includes apredicted amount of power required to establish a connection using theparticular wireless communication technology, such as the amount ofpower required to perform a Wi-Fi scan and connect to a Wi-Fi network,the amount of power required to search for a cellular network andconnect to the cellular network, etc. In this way, wearable computingdevice 102 may select one of communication components 114 so as tominimize the total amount of power used to transmit data to computingdevice 100 or another computing device.

Techniques of this disclosure may provide one or more advantages. Forexample, techniques of this disclosure may enable a computing device tointelligently manage wireless communication radios in a manner that mayreduce power usage, thereby increasing the battery life of the computingdevice and/or enabling the computing device to include a smallerbattery. By determining which wireless communication technology to usefor transferring data based on a total amount of power required totransfer the data, a computing device may utilize a relatively higherpower radio to transfer data than typical computing devices because therelatively higher power radio may actually consume less power than arelatively lower power radio due to increase bandwidth and a lower permegabyte power cost. In this way, techniques of this disclosure mayenable a computing device to meet strict power requirements while stillmaintaining connectivity and providing a good user experience.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example configuration of awearable device that intelligently manages communication components inaccordance with one or more techniques of this disclosure. As shown inthe specific example of FIG. 2, wearable device 202 includes one or morecommunication components 214, one or more processors 230, apresence-sensitive display 232, a power component 238, one or more inputcomponents 240, one or more output components 242, one or more sensorcomponents 244, and one or more storage devices 250. Communicationchannels 260 may interconnect each of the components 214, 230, 232, 238,240, 242, 244, and 250 for inter-component communications (physically,communicatively, and/or operatively). In some examples, communicationchannels 260 may include a system bus, a network connection, aninter-process communication data structure, or any other method forcommunicating data. Communication components 214, power managementmodule 210, and communication selection module 212 of FIG. 2 may providesimilar capability and functionality to wearable device 202 ascommunication components 114, power management module 110, andcommunication selection module 112 of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, wearable device 202 may include power component 238.In some examples, power component 238 may be a battery. Power component238 may store electric power and provide electric power to one or morecomponents of wearable device 202. Examples of power component 238 mayinclude, but are not necessarily limited to, batteries havingzinc-carbon, lead-acid, nickel cadmium (NiCd), nickel metal hydride(NiMH), lithium ion (Li-ion), and/or lithium ion polymer (Li-ionpolymer) chemistries. In some examples, power component 238 may have alimited capacity (e.g., 100-3000 mAh).

One or more storage devices 250 within computing device 100 may storeinformation required for use during operation of wearable device 202.Storage device 250, in some examples, has the primary purpose of being ashort term and not a long term computer-readable storage medium. Storagedevice 250 on wearable device 202 may be a volatile memory and thereforenot retain stored contents if powered off. Examples of volatile memoriesinclude random access memories (RAM), dynamic random access memories(DRAM), static random access memories (SRAM), and other forms ofvolatile memories known in the art. Storage device 250 may further beconfigured for long-term storage of information as non-volatile memoryspace and retain information after power on/off cycles. Examples ofnon-volatile memory configurations include magnetic hard discs, opticaldiscs, floppy discs, flash memories, or forms of electricallyprogrammable memories (EPROM) or electrically erasable and programmable(EEPROM) memories. In some examples, processors 230 on wearable device202 read and execute instructions stored by storage device 250. In theexample of FIG. 2, storage device 250 of wearable device 202 includespower management module 210, communication (COMM) selection module 212,signal detect module 252, and wear detection module 254. In addition,modules 210, 212, 252, and 254 may store information within storagedevice 250 during program execution.

One or more processors 230 may implement functionality and/or executeinstructions within wearable device 202. For example, processors 230 mayprocess instructions stored in storage device 250 that execute thefunctionality of modules 210, 212, 252, and 254.

Presence-sensitive display 232 of wearable device 202 includes displaycomponent 234 and presence-sensitive input component 236. Displaycomponent 234 may be a screen at which information is displayed bypresence-sensitive display 232 and presence-sensitive input component236 may detect an object at and/or near display component 234. As oneexample range, presence-sensitive input component 234 may detect anobject, such as a finger or stylus that is within two inches or less ofdisplay component 234. Presence-sensitive input component 235 maydetermine a location (e.g., an [x, y] coordinate) of display component234 at which the object was detected. In another example range,presence-sensitive input component 235 may detect an object six inchesor less from display component 234 and other ranges are also possible.Presence-sensitive input component 236 may determine the location ofdisplay component 234 selected by a user's finger using capacitive,inductive, and/or optical recognition techniques. In some examples,presence-sensitive input component 236 also provides output to a userusing tactile, audio, or video stimuli as described with respect todisplay component 234. In the example of FIG. 2, presence-sensitivedisplay 232 may present a user interface.

While illustrated as an internal component of wearable device 202,presence-sensitive display 232 may also represent and an externalcomponent that shares a data path with wearable device 202 fortransmitting and/or receiving input and output. For instance, in oneexample, presence-sensitive display 232 represents a built-in componentof wearable device 202 located within and physically connected to theexternal packaging of wearable device 202 (e.g., a screen on a mobilephone). In another example, presence-sensitive display 232 represents anexternal component of wearable device 202 located outside and physicallyseparated from the packaging or housing of wearable device 202 (e.g., amonitor, a projector, etc. that shares a wired and/or wireless data pathwith wearable device 202).

Presence-sensitive display 232 of wearable device 202 may receivetactile input from a user of wearable device 202. Presence-sensitivedisplay 232 may receive indications of the tactile input by detectingone or more tap or non-tap gestures from a user of wearable device 202(e.g., the user touching or pointing to one or more locations ofpresence-sensitive display 232 with a finger or a stylus pen).Presence-sensitive display 232 may present output to a user.Presence-sensitive display 232 may present the output as a graphicaluser interface, which may be associated with functionality provided byvarious functionality of wearable device 202. For example,presence-sensitive display 232 may present various user interfaces ofcomponents of a computing platform, operating system, applications, orservices executing at or accessible by wearable device 202 (e.g., anelectronic message application, a navigation application, an Internetbrowser application, a mobile operating system, etc.). A user mayinteract with a respective user interface to cause wearable device 202to perform operations relating to one or more the various functions.

Presence-sensitive display 232 of wearable device 202 may detecttwo-dimensional and/or three-dimensional gestures as input from a userof wearable device 202. For instance, a sensor of presence-sensitivedisplay 232 may detect a user's movement (e.g., moving a hand, an arm, apen, a stylus, etc.) within a threshold distance of the sensor ofpresence-sensitive display 232. Presence-sensitive display 232 maydetermine a two or three dimensional vector representation of themovement and correlate the vector representation to a gesture input(e.g., a hand-wave, a pinch, a clap, a pen stroke, etc.) that hasmultiple dimensions. In other words, presence-sensitive display 232 candetect a multi-dimension gesture without requiring the user to gestureat or near a screen or surface at which presence-sensitive display 232outputs information for display. Instead, presence-sensitive display 232can detect a multi-dimensional gesture performed at or near a sensorwhich may or may not be located near the screen or surface at whichpresence-sensitive display 232 outputs information for display.

Wearable device 202 may include one or more input components 240 thatwearable device 202 uses to receive input. Examples of input aretactile, audio, image and video input. Input components 240 of wearabledevice 202, in one example, includes a presence-sensitive display,touch-sensitive screen, voice responsive system, a microphone or anyother type of device for detecting input from a human or machine. Insome examples, input components 240 include one or more sensorcomponents 244. Numerous examples of sensor components 244 exist andinclude any input component configured to obtain environmentalinformation about the circumstances surrounding wearable device 202and/or physiological information that defines the activity state and/orphysical well-being of a user of wearable device 202. For example,sensor components 244 may include movement sensors (e.g.,accelerometers), temperature sensors, position sensors (e.g., a gyro),pressure sensors (e.g., a barometer), proximity sensors (e.g., aninferred sensor), ambient light detectors, heart-rate monitors, locationsensors (GPS components, Wi-Fi components, cellular components), and anyother type of sensing component (e.g., microphone, a still camera, avideo camera, a body camera, eyewear, or other camera device that isoperatively coupled to wearable device 202, infrared proximity sensor,hygrometer, and the like). Wearable device 202 may use sensor components244 to obtain contextual information associated with wearable device 202and a user. In some examples, one or more of power management module210, communication selection module 212 and wear detection module 254may rely on the sensor information obtained by sensor components 244.

Wearable device 202 may include one or more output devices 230 thatwearable device 202 uses to provide output. Examples of output aretactile, audio, still image and video output. Output components 230 ofwearable device 202, in one example, includes a presence-sensitivedisplay, sound card, video graphics adapter, speaker, liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), or any other type of device for generating output to ahuman or machine.

In accordance with the techniques of this disclosure, communicationselection module 212 may select one or more communication components 214to utilize for connection to another computing device (e.g., computingdevice 100 of FIG. 1) and/or for sending or receiving data (e.g., overthe Internet, to the other computing device, etc.) in a manner so as toattempt to minimize total power consumption. As shown in FIG. 2,communication selection module 212 includes payload determination module256 and connection determination module 258.

In instances where wearable device 202 is attempting to establish aconnection with another computing device (e.g., computing device 100 ofFIG. 1), communication selection module 212 may use a relatively lowpower one of communication components 214 (e.g., a Bluetooth® radio) andattempt to connect to computing device 100 using a direct wirelessconnection (e.g., wireless link 109 of FIG. 1). That is, communicationselection module 212 may be configured to initially attempt to establisha connection with computing device 100 using a lowest powered one ofcommunication components 214. When attempting to establish a connectionwith computing device 100, the Bluetooth® radio may be in a “listen”mode where the Bluetooth® radio detects if any other Bluetooth® devicesare reachable.

Connection determination module 258 may determine if the Bluetooth®radio detects computing device 100 and, if so, causes wearable device202 to establish a Bluetooth® connection to computing device 100. Ifconnection determination module 258 determines that computing device 100is not reachable via Bluetooth®, communication selection module 212 mayactivate another one of communication components 214 for establishingthe connection with computing device 100. For example, wearable device202 may be preconfigured to attempt to connect to network 104 of FIG. 1using a Wi-Fi radio and, if unable to connect using the Wi-Fi radio,connect to network 104 using a cellular radio. That is, wearable device202 may be preconfigured to initiate a wireless connection to computingdevice 100 and/or the Internet using the wireless communication radiothat requires the least amount of power to establishing and/or maintainsuch a connection.

In attempting to establish a network connection with the Wi-Fi radio,communication selection module 212 may cause the Wi-Fi radio to performa network scan. The one of communication components 214 that correspondsto the Wi-Fi radio scans to determine which, if any, Wi-Fi networks areavailable. Connection determination module 258 may analyze the list ofavailable Wi-Fi networks and determine if any are “known” Wi-Finetworks, i.e., whether the service set identifier (“SSID”) of any ofthe available Wi-Fi networks corresponds to Wi-Fi network configurationinformation stored at wearable device 202 such that wearable device 202may establish a connection to the Wi-Fi network. If one of the availableWi-Fi networks is a known Wi-Fi network, connection determination module258 attempts to establish a connection to the known Wi-Fi network.

If none of the available Wi-Fi networks is a known Wi-Fi network or ifconnection determination module 258 is unable to establish a connectionwith a known Wi-Fi network, communication selection module 212 may placethe Wi-Fi radio in a low power or “sleep” mode for an amount of time andattempt to establish a network connection using another one ofcommunication components 214. Communication selection module 212 may beconfigured to select the other one of communication components 214 basedon an estimated amount of power required to establish and maintain anetwork connection using the particular wireless communicationtechnology. For example, communication selection module 212 may bepreconfigured to next attempt to establish a network connection usingone of communication components 214 that corresponds to a cellular radiobecause the cellular radio requires more power to establish and maintaina network connection than Bluetooth® or Wi-Fi, but less power thananother wireless communication technology. In examples where wearabledevice 202 establishes a cellular network connection (e.g., to computingdevice 100 of FIG. 1), communication selection module 212 may leave theBluetooth® radio powered on and configured to “listen” for otherBluetooth devices.

The Wi-Fi radio may be placed in the low power state for an amount oftime determined based on user preferences and/or the connection state ofone or more of communication components 214 in an attempt to provide agood user experience while minimizing the amount of power used. Forexample, power management module 210 may place the Wi-Fi radio in thelow power state for two minutes, three minutes, five minutes, or tenminutes. The duration of the low power state may be based, in part, onthe connection state of one or more other communication components 214.For example, if wearable device 202 is connected to a network using acellular radio, power management module 210 may increase the duration ofthe low power mode so as to reduce the number of Wi-Fi reconnectionattempts (which may be power expensive) because the user experience issufficient when connected via cellular that power management module 210prioritizes power savings over quickly establishing a Wi-Fi networkconnection. After the amount of time elapses, communication selectionmodule 212 may activate the Wi-Fi radio and again attempt to establish aWi-Fi network connection. In this way, communication selection module212 may dynamically adjust the Wi-Fi scan rate based on the networkconnection status of other communication components 214 of wearabledevice 202 in addition to the connection status of the Wi-Fi radio.

Power management module 210 may also adjust the Wi-Fi scan rate based onthe power and/or connection state of other components of wearable device202, including one or more sensors 244. For example, as it is powerexpensive to perform a Wi-Fi scan, power component 238 and/or one ormore of communication components 214 may increase in temperature.However, certain ones of sensors components 244 or communicationcomponents 214 may be thermally sensitive such that they may not performas well outside of a preferred thermal range. In particular, antennasassociated with various communication components 214 and/or sensorcomponents 244 may have decreased performance outside of the preferredthermal range. As such, power management module 210 may monitor powerstates of various components of wearable device 202 and/or a currenttemperature of one or more antennas of wearable device 202. Based on thepower state and/or temperature, power management module 210 may adjustthe Wi-Fi scan rate in an attempt to keep the current temperature ofwearable device 202 within the preferred thermal range while theparticular communication components 214 and sensor components 244 arepowered on. For example, power management module 210 may increase theduration of the low power mode (i.e., increase the time between Wi-Fiscans), which may reduce the temperature of wearable device 202, which,in turn, may maintain the performance of the antennas associated withthe particular communication components 214 and sensor components 244.

In some examples, power management module 210 adjusts the Wi-Fi scanrate based on whether wearable device 202 is currently connected to acharger. For example, power management module 210 may determine thatpower component 238 is currently charging and, in response, prioritizeconnectivity over power and/or thermal concerns. That is, powermanagement module 210 may increase the Wi-Fi scan rate (i.e., decreasethe duration of the low power mode), establish a cellular connection,etc. In this way, in instances where wearable device 202 is a companiondevice to computing device 100, wearable device 202 prioritizesconnectivity to the companion device over power concerns such thatwearable device 202 is synchronized with the companion device whenwearable device 202 is removed from the charger.

However, while wearable computing device is charging, power component238 may heat up, which may increase the temperature of wearable device202 and reduce the performance of various antennas of wearable device202. In order to mitigate the thermal issues, power management module210 may monitor a current temperature of various components of wearabledevice 202 and adjust the charging rate of power component 238. Byreducing the charging rate of power component 238, power managementmodule 210 may reduce the temperature of wearable device 202, which maymaintain the desired performance of the antennas of wearable device 202.

Communication selection module 212 may also power on/off variouscommunication components 214 based on movement of wearable device 202and/or whether wearable device 202 is currently “donned” by a user(i.e., is currently being worn by the user or is on the body of theuser). Wear detection module 254 may analyze sensors data from one ormore sensor components 244 to determine whether wearable device 202 iscurrently being worn and an amount of time that has elapsed sincewearable device 202 last moved. In examples where sensor components 244includes one or more of a heart rate monitor, a galvanic skin responsesenor, or other sensor that can detect whether wearable computing deviceis in contact with a user's skin, wear detection module 254 may analyzethe sensor information to determine if wearable device 202 is currentlybeing worn. For example, if the heart rate monitor provides heart rateinformation to wear detection module 254, wear detection module 254 candetermine if the heart rate information is valid heart rate information(e.g., indicates a heart rate greater than zero beats per minute, lessthan 250 beats per minute, etc.) and, in response to determining thatthe hear rate information is valid, determine that wearable device 202is currently being worn. As another example, wear detection module 254may analyze data from the galvanic skin response sensor to determine ifa user is currently wearing wearable device 202 (e.g., based on acurrent conductance detected by the galvanic skin response sensor).

Wear detection module 254 may also determine whether wearable device 202is currently being worn using motion and/or position sensors (e.g.,accelerometer, gyroscopes, etc. of sensor components 244). For example,wear detection module 254 may monitor movement patterns detected bysensor components 244 and determine whether the movement patternscorrespond to known movements (e.g., of a limb) of a user. If themovement patterns correspond to known movements, wear detection module254 may determine that wearable computing device is currently beingworn. However, in various instances, wear detection module 254 maydetermine that wearable device 202 is currently being worn even if themovement patterns do not correspond to known movements. Instead, weardetection module 254 may determine that any motion of wearable device202 indicates that wearable device 202 is currently being worn.Similarly, wear detection module 254 determine that wearable device 202is not currently being worn if wearable device 202 has not moved for athreshold amount of time (e.g., one minute, three minutes, five minutes,etc.).

Responsive to determining that wearable device 202 is not being worn,power management module 210 may power off one or more communicationcomponents 214, place one or more communication components 214 into alow power or reduced power mode, and/or adjust the frequency at whichone or more communication components 214 attempt to establish a networkconnection. For example, power management module 210 may power off anyWi-Fi and cellular radios while leaving a Bluetooth® radio powered on.

Determining whether or not wearable computing device 202 is being wornrequires a non-zero amount of power, which may offset any power savingsachieved by adjusting the power states and/or operating characteristicsof communication components 214. As such, wear detection module 254 mayadjust how often wear detection module 254 performs off-body detectionbased on a likelihood that the user has removed wearable device 202(e.g., based on historical user behavior, time of day, etc.) and a powercost to maintain the current operating characteristics of communicationcomponents 214. Historical user behavior may include previous usageinformation (e.g., how a user directly interacts with wearable device202), notification history (e.g., time and frequency of receivednotifications), etc.

For example, if wear detection module 254 determines, based on prioruser behavior, that a user is likely to have removed wearable device202, wear detection module 254 may perform the off-body detectiontechniques to determine if the user has actually removed wearable device202. However, if wear detection module 254 determines, based on prioruser behavior, that the user is likely to put wearable device 202 backon within a relatively short period of time (e.g., five minutes), weardetection module 254 may determine that the amount of power required toperform the off-body detection may be greater than or equal to theamount of power required to power the radios until the user is likely todon wearable device 202. In response, wear detection module 254 may notto perform off-body detection and, instead, maintain the current powerstate of communication components 214.

Wearable computing device 202 may be configured to ensure a minimalamount of functionality until the next time at which wearable device 202is predicted be connected to a charger unless a user overrides orotherwise causes wearable device 202 to run out of power prior to thenext time wearable device 202 is charged. Power management module 210may monitor the user's activity and the amount of power utilized by oneor more communication components 214 during the discharge cycle and usethis information to predict an amount of time remaining before powercomponent 238 runs out of power. That is, power management module 201may keep track of how many minutes each of communication components 214were active during the discharge cycle and how much power each ofcommunication components 214 used while active and power on/off variouscommunication components 214 to predict how many minutes of battery liferemain.

Power management module 210 may determine the estimated amount ofoperating time remaining based on the current charge level of powercomponent 238, a historical power usage of wearable device 202, and/or apredicted future power usage of wearable device 202. The historicalpower usage may include the average power usage since wearable device202 was last disconnected from a charger, an average power usage for theparticular context (e.g., day of the week, location, scheduled calendarevents, temperature, current activity, time, average amount of datasent/received, etc.), an average power usage for a particular amount oftime (e.g., average daily power usage over the previous thirty days),etc. The predicted future power usage may be based on the average powerusage for the particular context and/or predicted future context ofwearable device 202. In some examples, power management module 210 maydetermine an amount of time each of communication components 214 areactive during the current discharge cycle. Based on the amount of activetime of each communication component 214, power management module 210may estimate how much power each communication component 214 has usedduring the discharge cycle.

If power management module 210 predicts that power component 238 willrun out of power prior to the next predicted charging time,communication selection module 212 may adjust the operatingcharacteristics of communication components 214. For example, based onthe amount of active time of each communication component 214, powermanagement module 210 may disable relatively higher power communicationcomponents 214 in an attempt to reduce the rate of power drain andmaintain at least partial functionality of wearable device 202 untilwearable device 202 is predicted to be connected to a charger. As otherexamples, power management module 210 may reduce the power usage rate byreducing the Wi-Fi scan rate, disabling all communication components214, disabling various sensor components 244, disablingpresence-sensitive input component 236, etc.

In some instances, power management module 210 may determine a currentamount of power being used by one or more communication components 214.For example, power management module 210 may monitor the powerconsumption (e.g., the number of milliamp hours) currently beingconsumed by each communication component 214. If power management module210 determines that one communication component 214 (e.g., a Wi-Firadio) is consuming more power than expected, power management module210 may notify communication selection module 212 and causecommunication selection module 212 to select a different one ofcommunication components 214 for the network connection.

Communication selection module 212 may select which one of communicationcomponents 214 to use to transfer data based on characteristics of thedata that is going to be sent from and/or received by wearable device202. Each communication component 214 may use a different amount ofpower for sending or receiving a particular amount of data.Communication selection module 212 may determine how much data is likelyto be transferred and may select one of communication components 214 touse for the data transfer based on the total amount of power likely tobe required to complete the data transfer. Payload determination module256 of communication selection module 212 may predict an amount of datato be transferred based on a type of data (e.g., audio, video, text,etc.), an application associated with the data transfer (e.g., a videoplayer application, a web browser, etc.), a priority assigned to thedata being transferred (e.g., by a developer), an amount of bandwidthrequested by the application associated with the data transfer, a lengthof a data queue, etc.

As one example, payload determination module 256 may determine that thefile type of the data being transferred corresponds to video data. INsuch an example, payload determination module 256 may be configured todetermine that, when transferring video data, a large amount of data istypically transferred to wearable device 202. In response to determiningthat a relatively large amount of data is predicted to be transferred,communication selection module 212 may prioritize a network connectionusing a relatively higher power wireless radio but that has a relativelylarge amount of bandwidth (e.g., a Wi-Fi radio) over a networkconnection using a relatively low power wireless radio but that has arelatively small amount of bandwidth (e.g., a Bluetooth® radio). In suchan example, communication selection module 212 may determine that it ismore power efficient to use the Wi-Fi radio to transfer the data than itis to use the Bluetooth® radio to transfer the data. In instances wherewearable device 202 is a companion device to computing device 100,wearable device 202 may establish a direct Wi-Fi connection withcomputing device 100 (i.e., a Wi-Fi connection that does not include anintermediary network element, such as a wireless router).

As another example, payload determination module 256 may determine thatthe data to be transferred is audio data associated with an incomingphone call. As voice audio data for a phone call is relatively lowbandwidth, communication selection module 212 may power off a Wi-Firadio and, instead, establish a Bluetooth connection with a devicesending the audio data (e.g., to computing device 100). In anotherexample, the data being transferred may include a flag or otherindication of whether the data requires high-bandwidth connectivity. Forexample, computing device 100 is transferring music to wearable device202, a music application executing on computing device 100 may send, towearable device 202, initial data that includes a flag indicating thatthe data to be transferred is music data and/or requires high bandwidthconnectivity. In response to receiving the indication of the higherbandwidth requirement, communication selection module 212 may activatethe Wi-Fi radio and initiate a Wi-Fi scan in attempt to connect tocomputing device 100 over Wi-Fi rather than Bluetooth®. In this way,communication selection module 212 may dynamically select one or morecommunication components 214 to use for transferring data based oncharacteristics of the data being transferred and may reduce the amountof power used to transfer the data.

FIG. 3 is a table 300 illustrating example communication componentstates, in accordance with one or more techniques of this disclosure.For purposes of illustration, wireless communication state table 300 isdescribed below with respect to computing device 100 and wearablecomputing device 102 of FIG. 1, although other devices may be configuredconsistent with table 300.

Table 300 illustrates example Wi-Fi radio power states based on whetherwearable computing device 102 is connected to computing device 100 usingBluetooth, whether wearable computing device 102 is currently being wornby a user, and a power state of wearable computing device 102. Inparticular, table 300 illustrates four distinct connection states. Instate one, wearable computing device 102 is connected to computingdevice 100 using Bluetooth®. In this state, wearable computing device102 may be configured to use Bluetooth® to transfer data and to disablethe Wi-Fi radio regardless of whether wearable computing device 102 isbeing worn and regardless of the power state of wearable computingdevice 102.

In the second state, wearable computing device 102 is not connected tocomputing device 100 via Bluetooth®, but is in a power saving mode(e.g., to ensure that wearable computing device 102 may provide aminimal amount of functionality until wearable computing device 102 isnext connected to a charger). Because wearable computing device 102 isnot connected via Bluetooth®, but is in the power saving mode, wearablecomputing device powers off the Wi-Fi radio, regardless of whetherwearable computing device 102 is currently being worn. In some examples,wearable computing device 102 does not perform off-body detection whichin the power saving mode.

State three is illustrated in FIG. 3 such that wearable computing device102 is not connected to computing device 100 via Bluetooth®, but iscurrently charging (i.e., is currently connected to a charger). In statethree, wearable computing device is configured to turn on the Wi-Firadio regardless of whether a user is currently wearing wearablecomputing device 102. By turning on Wi-Fi, wearable computing device 102may be more frequently synchronized with computing device 100 withoutreducing the battery life of wearable computing device 102.

In the fourth state, wearable computing device 102 is not connected tocomputing device 100 using Bluetooth®, is in a “normal” power mode(i.e., is not currently charging and is not in a power saving mode), andis currently being worn by a user. In this state, wearable computingdevice 102 may be turned on, but may perform Wi-Fi scans at a reducedfrequency as compared to when wearable computing device 102 is connectedto a charger, which may reduce power usage and increase the amount oftime a user may use wearable computing device 102 before chargingwearable computing device 102.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example operation of a computingdevice, in accordance with one or more techniques of this disclosure.The example operation shown in FIG. 4 is described below with respect tocomputing device 100 of FIG. 1 and wearable device 202 of FIG. 2,although other computing devices may perform the operations of FIG. 4.

In the example of FIG. 4, wearable device 202 may determine if a user iswearing wearable device 202 (400). For example, wear detection module254 wearable device 202 may analyze motion data generated by anaccelerometer, gyroscope, or other motion sensor of wearable device 202to determine if wearable device 202 is being worn. For example, if themotion patterns correspond to know user movements, wear detection module254 may determine that a user is currently wearing wearable device 202(“YES” branch of 400). As another example, if the motion data indicatesthat wearable device 202 has been stationary for a threshold amount oftime (e.g., 60 seconds, 5 minutes, 20 minutes, etc.), wear detectionmodule 254 may determine that the user is not currently wearing wearabledevice 202 (“NO” branch of 400).

In instances where wear detection module 254 determines that wearabledevice 202 is not being worn (“NO” branch of 400), communicationselection module 212 may ensure that a Bluetooth® radio (e.g., one ofcommunication components 214) is turned on/enabled and monitor for aBluetooth® connection to a companion device, such as computing device100 of FIG. 1 (402). Further power management module 210 may turn offany Wi-Fi and cellular radios (404), which may reduce power consumptionwhile wearable device 202 is not being worn.

In instances where wear detection module 254 determines that wearabledevice 202 is being worn (“YES” branch of 400), connection determinationmodule 258 of communication selection module 212 may determine whetherwearable device 202 is connected to a companion device (e.g., computingdevice 100 of FIG. 1) via Bluetooth® (406). If connection determinationmodule 258 determines that wearable device 202 is connected to thecompanion device (“YES” branch of 406), power management module 210powers off the Wi-Fi and cellular radios (404), which may save energywhile wearable device 202 is connected to the companion device. Wearabledevice 202 may exchange data using the Bluetooth® connection with thecompanion device, including sending and receiving data to devices on theInternet, such that the Wi-Fi and cellular connections are not needed.

If connection determination module 258 determines that wearable device202 is not connected to a companion device using Bluetooth® (“NO” branchof 406), communication selection module 212 determines if a Wi-Fi radio(e.g., one of communication components 214) should be woken up from asleep state (i.e., activated, powered on, etc.) (408). In some examples,power management module 210 manages the wake-sleep cycle of the Wi-Firadio so as to reduce power usage. For example, if connectiondetermination module 258 determines that there is no known Wi-Fi networkavailable, power management module 210 may cause the Wi-Fi radio to gointo a “sleep” (i.e., low power or powered off) mode for a predeterminedamount of time (e.g., 1 minute, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, etc.). As anotherexample, if power management module 210 determines that the amount ofpower remaining in power component 238 is insufficient to power wearabledevice 202, at the current discharge rate, until the predicted next timewearable device 202 is going to be connected to a charger, powermanagement module 210 may disable the Wi-Fi radio, as well as othercomponents, such as the cellular radio, until wearable device 202 isconnected to the charger or until power management module 210 predictsthat there is sufficient power remaining in power component 238 to keepwearable device 202 operating until wearable device 202 is predicted tobe connected to a charger. In such examples, communication selectionmodule 212 determines that the Wi-Fi radio should not be woken from thesleep state (i.e., should not transition to a higher power mode from alower power mode) and should not initiate a Wi-Fi scan to detectavailable Wi-Fi networks (“NO” branch of 408).

If communication selection module 212 determines that the Wi-Fi radioshould not be woken up from the sleep state (“NO” branch of 408),communication selection module 212 may activate a cellular radio ofwearable device 202 (420) and attempt to establish a cellular Internetconnection to a companion device (422). That is, if wearable device 202is unable to connect to the companion device using Bluetooth® or Wi-Fi,communication selection module 212 may attempt to connection to thecompanion device using a relatively higher power communicationtechnology, such as cellular. However, even if a network connection tothe companion device is established using the cellular radio (e.g., vianetwork 104), wearable device 202 continues to determine if it is beingworn (400) and continues to attempt to connect to the companion deviceusing a relatively lower power radio (402-418).

If communication selection module 212 determines that the Wi-Fi- radioshould be woken up from the sleep state (“YES” branch of 408), powermanagement module 210 activates the Wi-Fi radio (410) and connectiondetermination module 258 causes the Wi-Fi radio to perform a Wi-Fi scan(412). In performing the Wi-Fi scan, the Wi-Fi radio detects availableWi-Fi networks at the current location of wearable device 202.Connection determination module 258 determines if any of the availableWi-Fi networks are “known” Wi-Fi networks or if wearable device 202 isotherwise able to connect to one of the available Wi-Fi networks (414).Known Wi-Fi networks may include a direct Wi-Fi connection to thecompanion device (i.e., a connection to computing device 100 that doesnot traverse network 104). If connection determination module 258determines that one of the Wi-Fi networks is a “known” Wi-Fi network(“YES” branch of 414), connection determination module 258 attempts toconnect to the Wi-Fi network (416). In instances where wearable device202 is able to establish the connection to the Wi-Fi network and to thecompanion device, wearable device 202 may be configured to continue todetermine if it is currently being worn (400) and may continue toattempt to connect to the companion device using a relatively lowerpower wireless radio technology, such a Bluetooth® (420-404). In someexamples, even though wearable device 202 is able to connect to a Wi-Finetwork, wearable device 202 may not be able to establish a connectionwith the companion device using the Wi-Fi network. In such examples,connection determination module 258 may operate as if wearable device202 was unable to connect to any available Wi-Fi network.

In examples where connection determination module 258 is unable toconnect via Wi-Fi because there are no known Wi-Fi networks or for otherreasons (“NO” branch of 414), power management module 210 puts the Wi-Firadio into a sleep state (418) for a preconfigured period of time,enables the cellular radio (420), and attempts to connect to theInternet using the cellular radio (422). The preconfigured period oftime may be dynamically adjusted based on a current amount of powerremaining in power component 238, whether wearable device 202 isconnected to a charger, a power usage rate of wearable device 202, atype of data being or to be transferred, among other factors. In thisway, wearable device 202 may intelligently select which wirelesscommunication technology to use to connect to a companion device (e.g.,computing device 100 of FIG. 1), which may reduce the amount of powerused by wearable device 202.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example operation of a computingdevice, in accordance with one or more techniques of this disclosure.The example operation shown in FIG. 5 is described below with respect tocomputing device 100 of FIG. 1 and wearable device 202 of FIG. 2,although other computing devices may perform the operations of FIG. 4.Further, the example operation of FIG. 5 may be combined with theexample operation of FIG. 4 such that wearable device 202 may determinewhich wireless communication technology to use not only based on howmuch power is required for each wireless radio to establish and maintaina connection to the companion device and/or the Internet, but also basedon a predicted amount of power required to exchange data with thecompanion device or another device available via the Internet. In theexample operation illustrated in FIG. 5, it is assumed that wearabledevice 202 is connected to computing device 100 using Bluetooth® andthan wearable device 202 and computing device 100 are transferring databetween each other.

In determining which wireless communication technology to use fortransferring data, payload determination module 256 of wearable device202 may determine what type of data is going to be transferred (500).For example, if a user launches a music application at wearable device202, payload determination module 256 may determine that the user islikely to transfer audio data. As another example, if a user launches astreaming video viewing application, payload determination module 256may determine that the user is likely to transfer video data. In yetanother example, payload determination module 256 may determine the typeof data to be transferred based on a file extension (e.g., “.mp4”,“.avi”, “.jpg”, “.txt”, “.zip”, etc.). In some instances, payloaddetermination module 256 may analyze an initial portion of data (e.g., afirst one, ten, fifty, etc. data packets) and determine, based on thecontents of the initial portion of data (e.g., packet headerinformation, data stored in the payload portion of the packet, etc.),the type of data being transferred.

Payload determination module 256 may predict, based on the type of thedata being transferred, a size (i.e., amount) of data that is going tobe transferred (502) and determine if the amount of data is greater thana threshold amount (504). Various wireless communication technologiesutilize different amounts of power for transferring the same amount ofdata. For example, Bluetooth® may require a relatively small amount ofpower to maintain a connection, but a relatively large amount of powerto transmit data whereas Wi-Fi may require a relatively large amountamount of power to establish and maintain a connection, but only use arelatively small amount of power to transmit data. That is, eachdifferent wireless connection technology may use a different amount ofpower to transmit a megabyte of data such that a wireless communicationtechnology that may be considered to typically use a relatively largeamount of power may actually be more power efficient when transferringrelatively large amounts of data than a different wireless communicationtechnology that may be considered to typically use a relatively smallamount of power.

Further, communication selection module 212 may determine which wirelesscommunication technology to use to transfer the data based on factorsother than power requirements, such as a monetary cost to transfer thedata using each wireless communication technology. For example,transferring data using a cellular connection may be monetarily moreexpensive than transferring data using Wi-Fi such that, even thoughtransferring the data using the cellular connection may require lesspower, communication selection module 212 determines that the datashould be transferred using Wi-Fi because the monetary cost of thecellular connection outweighs the power savings. As another example,even though Wi-Fi may typically require less power to transfer the data,communication selection module 212 may determine that there is a limitedamount of bandwidth available Wi-Fi network such that transferring thedata may take longer than initially predicted, which may result in usingmore power than a different wireless connection technology. In suchexamples, communication selection module 212 may switch to a differentwireless connection technology for transferring the data. In general,communication selection module 212 may apply a weighting to the variousfactors when determining which wireless communication technology to usefor transferring the data.

The threshold amount of data may be different for each different type ofwireless communication technology and may be different when comparingdifferent wireless technologies. For example, if wearable device 202 isable to connection to computing device 100 using Bluetooth® and Wi-Fi,communication selection module 202 may configure the threshold such thatdata transfers of less than one megabyte should be transferred usingBluetooth® and data transfers greater than one megabyte should betransferred using Wi-Fi. However, if Bluetooth® is not available, butWi-Fi and cellular are available (e.g., wearable device 202 is currentlyconnected via cellular), communication selection module 202 mayconfigure the threshold such that data transfers of less than tenmegabytes should be transferred using cellular and data transfersgreater than ten megabytes should be transferred using Wi-Fi. In yetanother example, if Bluetooth® and cellular are available, but Wi-Fi isnot available, communication selection module 202 may configure thethreshold such that data transfers of less than three megabytes shouldbe transferred using Bluetooth and data transfers greater than threemegabytes should be transferred using cellular. The threshold valuesprovided are only examples and any threshold value that may enablewearable device 202 to reduce the total power required to transfer thedata may be used.

If payload determination module 256 determines that the predicted sizeof the data transfer is not greater than a threshold amount of data(“NO” branch of 504), power management module 210 determines that it ismore power efficient to transfer the data using the establishedBluetooth® connection and wearable device transfers the data usingBluetooth® (506). If payload determination module 256 that the predictedsize of the data transfer is greater than the threshold amount of data(“YES”) branch of 504, power management module 210 determines that it ismore power efficient to transfer the data using Wi-Fi, connectiondetermination module 258 determine whether a Wi-Fi connection isavailable (508). If there is Wi-Fi available (“YES” branch of 508),communication selection module 256 establishes the Wi-Fi connection, ifneeded, and wearable device 202 transfers the data using Wi-Fi (510).

If there is no Wi-Fi connection available (“NO” branch of 508),communication selection module 212 determines whether to transfer thedata using a cellular connection (512). For example, if wearable device202 has an unlimited cellular data plan and power management module 210predicts that it will require less power to transfer the data usingcellular than using Bluetooth® (“YES” branch of 512), communicationselection module 212 may determine to transfer the data using cellularand wearable device 202 may transfer the data using cellular (514).However, if transferring data using cellular data is monetarilyexpensive and/or if power management module 210 predicts that it willrequire less power to transfer the data using Bluetooth® than cellular(“NO” branch of 512), communication selection module 212 may determineto transfer the data using Bluetooth® and wearable device 202 maytransfer the data using Bluetooth® (506).

EXAMPLE 1

A method comprising: predicting, by a wearable device, an amount of datato be transferred from a computing device; determining, by the wearabledevice, based on the amount of data, a particular wireless communicationtechnology from a plurality of wireless communication technologies ofthe wearable computing device predicted to use the least amount of powerfor transferring the data; determining, by the wearable device, whetherthe wearable device can connect to the computing device using theparticular wireless communication technology; and, responsive todetermining that the wearable device can connect to the computing deviceusing the particular wireless communication technology, transferring, bythe wearable device and using the particular wireless communicationtechnology, the data.

EXAMPLE 2

The method of example 1, wherein predicting the amount of data to betransferred is based on one or more of a type of the data, headerinformation of at least one packet of the data, an applicationassociated with the data transfer, a priority assigned to the data beingtransferred, and an amount of bandwidth requested by the applicationassociated with the data transfer.

EXAMPLE 3

The method of any of examples 1-2, wherein the particular wirelesscommunication technology is a first wireless communication technology,the method further comprising: responsive to determining that thewearable device cannot connect to the computing device using the firstwireless communication technology: determining, by the wearable device,a second wireless communication technology predicted to use a lowestamount of power of the plurality of wireless communication technologiesother than the first wireless communication technology; andtransferring, by the wearable computing device, the data using thesecond wireless communication technology.

EXAMPLE 4

The method of any of examples 1-3, further comprising: whiletransferring the data: determining, by the wearable device, whether adifferent one of the wireless communication technologies is predicted touse less power to transfer a remaining portion of the data than theparticular wireless communication technology; and responsive todetermining that the different wireless communication technology fromthe wireless communication technologies is predicted to use less powerto transfer the remaining portion of the data, transferring, by thewearable device, the remaining portion of the data using the differentthe wireless communication.

EXAMPLE 5

The method of any of examples 1-4, wherein: the particular wirelesscommunication technology uses less power to transfer a particular amountof data than one or more other wireless communication technologies fromthe plurality of wireless communication technologies, and the particularwireless communication technology uses more power to establish andmaintain the connection to the computing device than at least one otherwireless communication technology of the plurality of communicationtechnologies.

EXAMPLE 6

The method of any of examples 1-5, wherein the particular wirelesscommunication technology is one of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular.

EXAMPLE 7

A method comprising: determining, by a wearable device, whether thewearable device is connected to a computing device using a firstwireless communication technology from a plurality of wirelesscommunication technologies of the wearable device; responsive todetermining that the wearable device is not connected to the computingdevice using the first wireless communication technology, determining,by the wearable device, whether the wearable device is currently beingworn; responsive to determining that the wearable device is currentlybeing worn: determining, by the wearable device, whether the wearabledevice can connect to the computing device using a second wirelesscommunication technology from the plurality of wireless communicationtechnologies, wherein the first wireless communication technology usesless power to establish and maintain a connection with the computingdevice than the second wireless communication technology; and responsiveto determining that the wearable device can connect to the computingdevice using the second wireless communication technology, establishing,by the wearable device, a connection to the network using the secondwireless communication technology.

EXAMPLE 8

The method of example 7, further comprising: responsive to determiningthat the wearable device is connected to the computing device using thefirst wireless communication technology: predicting, by a wearabledevice, an amount of data to be transferred from the computing device;determining, by the wearable device, based on the amount of data, thatthe second wireless communication technology is predicted to use lesspower to transfer the data than the first wireless communicationtechnology; and responsive to determining that the second wirelesscommunication technology is predicted to use less power to transfer thedata, transferring, by the wearable device and using the second wirelesscommunication technology, the data.

EXAMPLE 9

The method of any of examples 7-8, further comprising: responsive todetermining that the wearable device is not being worn, monitoring, bythe wearable device, for a connection to the computing device using thefirst wireless communication technology.

EXAMPLE 10

The method of any of examples 7-9, further comprising: responsive todetermining that the wearable device cannot connect to the computingdevice using the second wireless communication technology, determining,by the wearable device, whether the wearable device can connect to thecomputing device using a third wireless communication technology,wherein the second wireless communication technology uses less power toestablish and maintain a connection with the computing device than thethird wireless communication technology; and responsive to determiningthat the wearable device can connect to the computing device using thethird wireless communication technology: establishing, by the wearabledevice, the connection to the computing device using the third wirelesscommunication technology; and configuring a radio associated with thesecond wireless communication technology to operate in a reduced powermode.

EXAMPLE 11

The method of any of examples 7-10, further comprising: determining, bythe wearable device, a rate at which power is being used by the wearabledevice; predicting, by the wearable device, a future time at which thewearable device is going to be connected to a charger; and responsive topredicting, based on the rate at which power is being used by thewearable device and the future time, that a power component of thewearable device is going to run out of power prior to the future time,disabling all wireless communication technology radios other than aradio for the first wireless communication technology.

EXAMPLE 12

The method of any of examples 7-11, wherein the first communicationtechnology is Bluetooth and wherein the second wireless communicationtechnology is one of Wi-Fi and cellular.

EXAMPLE 13

A wearable device comprising: one or more processors; a plurality ofcommunication components each associated with a respective wirelesscommunication technology, wherein at least a first communicationcomponent from the plurality of communication components is active, andwherein at least a second communication component from the plurality ofcommunication components is inactive; one or more motion sensorsconfigured to detect motion of the wearable device and generate, basedon the detected motion, motion data; a storage device configured tostore at least one module operable by the one or more processors to:determine whether the wearable device is connected to a computing deviceusing the first communication component; responsive to determining thatthe wearable device is not connected to the computing device using thefirst communication technology, determine, based on the motion data,whether the wearable device is currently being worn; responsive todetermining that the wearable device is currently being worn: activatethe second communication component; determine whether the wearabledevice can connect to the computing device using the secondcommunication component, wherein the first communication component usesless power to establish and maintain a wireless connection with thecomputing device than the second communication component; and responsiveto determining that the wearable device can connect to the computingdevice using the second communication component, establish the wirelessconnection to the computing device using the second communicationcomponent.

EXAMPLE 14

The wearable device of example 13, wherein the at least one module isfurther operable by the one or more processors to: responsive todetermining that the wearable device is connected to the computingdevice using the first communication component: predict an amount ofdata to be transferred from the computing device; determine, based onthe amount of data, that the second communication component is predictedto use less power to transfer the data than the first communicationcomponent; and responsive to determining that the second communicationcomponent is predicted to use less power to transfer the data, transfer,and using the second communication component, the data.

EXAMPLE 15

The wearable device of example 14, wherein the at least one module isfurther operable by the one or more processors to predict the amount ofdata to be transferred based on one or more of a type of the data,header information of at least one packet of the data, an applicationassociated with the data transfer, a priority assigned to the data beingtransferred, and an amount of bandwidth requested by the applicationassociated with the data transfer.

EXAMPLE 16

The wearable device of any of examples 14-15, wherein the at least onemodule is further operable by the one or more processors to: responsiveto determining that the wearable device cannot connect to the computingdevice using the first communication component: determine that thesecond communication component is predicted to use a lowest amount ofpower of the plurality of communication components other than the firstcommunication component; and transfer the data using the secondcommunication component.

EXAMPLE 17

The wearable device of example 16, wherein: the first communicationcomponent uses less power to transfer a particular amount of data thanthe second communication component, and the first communicationcomponent uses more power to establish and maintain the connection tothe computing device than the second communication component.

EXAMPLE 18

The wearable device of any of examples 13-17, wherein the at least onemodule is further operable by the one or more processors to: determinewhether the wearable device is connected to a charger; and responsive todetermining that the wearable device is connected to the charger,connect to the computing device using the second communicationcomponent.

EXAMPLE 19

The wearable device of any of examples 13-18, wherein the at least onemodule is further operable by the one or more processors to: responsiveto determining that the wearable device cannot connect to the computingdevice using the second communication component, determine whether thewearable device can connect to the computing device using a thirdcommunication component, wherein the second communication component usesless power to establish and maintain a connection with the computingdevice than the third communication component; and responsive todetermining that the wearable device can connect to the computing deviceusing the third communication component: establish the wirelessconnection to the computing device using the third communicationcomponent; and deactivate the second communication component.

EXAMPLE 20

The wearable device of any of examples 133-198, further comprising: apower component configured to store power, wherein the at least onemodule is further operable by the one or more processors to: determine arate at which power is being used by the wearable device; predict afuture time at which the wearable device is going to be connected to acharger; and responsive to predicting, based on the rate at which poweris being used by the wearable device and the future time, that the powercomponent is going to run out of the power prior to the future time,disabling the plurality of communication components other than a thefirst communication component.

In one or more examples, the operations described may be implemented inhardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof If implementedin software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over, as oneor more instructions or code, a computer-readable medium and executed bya hardware-based processing unit. Computer-readable media may includecomputer-readable storage media, which corresponds to a tangible mediumsuch as data storage media, or communication media including any mediumthat facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place toanother, e.g., according to a communication protocol. In this manner,computer-readable media generally may correspond to (1) tangiblecomputer-readable storage media which is non-transitory and does notinclude a signal or (2) a communication medium such as a signal orcarrier wave. Data storage media may be any available media that can beaccessed by one or more computers or one or more processors to retrieveinstructions, code and/or data structures for implementation of thetechniques described in this disclosure. A computer program product mayinclude a computer-readable medium.

By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable storagemedia can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical diskstorage, magnetic disk storage, or other magnetic storage devices, flashmemory, or any other medium that can be used to store desired programcode in the form of instructions or data structures and that can beaccessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed acomputer-readable medium. For example, if instructions are transmittedfrom a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable,fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), orwireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then thecoaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wirelesstechnologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in thedefinition of medium. It should be understood, however, thatcomputer-readable storage media and data storage media do not includeconnections, carrier waves, signals, or other transient media, but areinstead directed to non-transient, tangible storage media. Disk anddisc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, opticaldisc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc, wheredisks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce dataoptically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be includedwithin the scope of computer-readable media.

Instructions may be executed by one or more processors, such as one ormore digital signal processors (DSPs), general purpose microprocessors,application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmablelogic arrays (FPGAs), or other equivalent integrated or discrete logiccircuitry. Accordingly, the term “processor,” as used herein may referto any of the foregoing structure or any other structure suitable forimplementation of the techniques described herein. In addition, in someaspects, the functionality described herein may be provided withindedicated hardware and/or software modules. Also, the techniques couldbe fully implemented in one or more circuits or logic elements.

The techniques of this disclosure may be implemented in a wide varietyof devices or apparatuses, including a wireless handset, an integratedcircuit (IC) or a set of ICs (e.g., a chip set). Various components,modules, or units are described in this disclosure to emphasizefunctional aspects of devices configured to perform the disclosedtechniques, but do not necessarily require realization by differenthardware units. Rather, as described above, various units may becombined in a hardware unit or provided by a collection ofinteroperative hardware units, including one or more processors asdescribed above, in conjunction with suitable software and/or firmware.

Various examples have been described. These and other examples arewithin the scope of the following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: selecting, by awearable device, a first wireless communication technology from aplurality of wireless communication technologies of the wearable devicepredicted to use a least amount of power to transfer an amount of datato the wearable device from another device; determining whether thewearable device can connect to the other device using the first wirelesscommunication technology; responsive to determining that the wearabledevice can connect to the other device using the first wirelesscommunication technology, transferring, by the wearable device and usingthe first wireless communication technology, the data from the otherdevice; and while transferring the data: determining, by the wearabledevice, whether a second wireless communication technology from theplurality of wireless communication technologies is predicted to useless power to transfer a remaining portion of the data than the firstwireless communication technology; and responsive to determining thatthe second wireless communication technology from the wirelesscommunication technologies is predicted to use less power to transferthe remaining portion of the data, transferring, by the wearable device,the remaining portion of the data using the second wirelesscommunication technology.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:predicting the amount of data to be transferred based on one or more ofa type of the data, header information of at least one packet of thedata, an application associated with the transferring of the data, apriority assigned to the data being transferred, and an amount ofbandwidth requested by the application associated with the transferringof the data.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive todetermining that the wearable device cannot connect to the other deviceusing the first wireless communication technology: determining, by thewearable device, a different wireless communication technology predictedto use a least amount of power of the plurality of wirelesscommunication technologies other than the first wireless communicationtechnology; and transferring, by the wearable device, the data from theother device using the different wireless communication technology. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein: the first wireless communicationtechnology uses less power to transfer a particular amount of data thanone or more other wireless communication technologies from the pluralityof wireless communication technologies, and the first wirelesscommunication technology uses more power to establish and maintain theconnection to the other device than at least one other wirelesscommunication technology of the plurality of communication technologies.5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wireless communicationtechnology is one of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular.
 6. A methodcomprising: generating, by a wearable device and based on motiondetected by one or more motion sensors of the wearable device, motiondata; determining, by the wearable device and based on the motion data,whether the wearable device is currently being worn; responsive todetermining that the wearable device is currently being worn:determining, by the wearable device, whether the wearable device canconnect to a computing device using a first wireless communicationtechnology from a plurality of wireless communication technologies,wherein a communication component associated with the first wirelesscommunication technology uses less power to establish and maintain aconnection with the computing device than a communication componentassociated with a second wireless communication technology from theplurality of wireless communication technologies; and responsive todetermining that the wearable device can connect to the computing deviceusing the first wireless communication technology: establishing, by thewearable device, a connection to a network using the first wirelesscommunication technology; and disabling the communication componentassociated with the second wireless communication technology;predicting, by the wearable device, an amount of data to be transferredfrom the computing device to the wearable device; determining, by thewearable device, based on the amount of data, that the second wirelesscommunication technology is predicted to use less power to transfer thedata than the first wireless communication technology; and responsive todetermining that the second wireless communication technology ispredicted to use less power to transfer the data, transferring, by thewearable device and using the second wireless communication technology,the data from the computing device.
 7. The method of claim 6, furthercomprising: responsive to determining that the wearable device is notbeing worn, monitoring, by the wearable device, for a connection to thecomputing device using the first wireless communication technology. 8.The method of claim 6, further comprising: responsive to determiningthat the wearable device cannot connect to the computing device usingthe first wireless communication technology, determining, by thewearable device, whether the wearable device can connect to thecomputing device using the second wireless communication technology fromthe plurality of wireless communication technologies; and responsive todetermining that the wearable device can connect to the computing deviceusing the second wireless communication technology: establishing, by thewearable device, the connection to the computing device using the secondwireless communication technology; and configuring the communicationcomponent associated with the first wireless communication technology tooperate in a reduced power mode.
 9. The method of claim 6, furthercomprising: determining, by the wearable device, a rate at which poweris being used by the wearable device; predicting, by the wearabledevice, a future time at which the wearable device is going to beconnected to a charger; and responsive to predicting, based on the rateat which power is being used by the wearable device and the future time,that a power component of the wearable device is going to run out ofpower prior to the future time, disabling all communication componentsassociated with the plurality of wireless communication technologiesother than the communication component for the first wirelesscommunication technology.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the firstcommunication technology is Bluetooth and wherein the second wirelesscommunication technology is one of Wi-Fi and cellular.
 11. A wearabledevice comprising: one or more processors; a plurality of communicationcomponents each associated with a respective wireless communicationtechnology from a plurality of wireless communication technologies; anda storage device configured to store at least one module operable by theone or more processors to: select a first wireless communicationtechnology from the plurality of wireless communication technologiespredicted to use a least amount of power to transfer an amount of datafrom another device; determine whether the wearable device can connectto the other device using the first wireless communication technology;responsive to determining that the wearable device can connect to theother device using the first wireless communication technology, transferthe data from the other device and to the wearable device using thecommunication component associated with first wireless communicationtechnology; and while transferring the data: determine whether a secondwireless communication technology from the wireless communicationtechnologies is predicted to use less power to transfer a remainingportion of the data than the first wireless communication technology;and responsive to determining that the second wireless communicationtechnology from the wireless communication technologies is predicted touse less power to transfer the remaining portion of the data, transferthe remaining portion of the data using the second wirelesscommunication technology.
 12. The wearable device of claim 11, whereinthe at least one module is further operable by the one or moreprocessors to: predict the amount of data to be transferred based on oneor more of a type of the data, header information of at least one packetof the data, an application associated with the transferring of thedata, a priority assigned to the data being transferred, and an amountof bandwidth requested by the application associated with thetransferring of the data.
 13. The wearable device of claim 11, whereinthe at least one module is further operable by the one or moreprocessors to: responsive to determining that the wearable device cannotconnect to the other device using the first wireless communicationtechnology: determine a different wireless communication technologypredicted to use a lowest amount of power of the plurality of wirelesscommunication technologies other than the first wireless communicationtechnology; and transfer the data to the other device using acommunication component associated with the different wirelesscommunication technology.
 14. The wearable device of claim 11, wherein:the communication component associated with the first wirelesscommunication technology uses less power to transfer a particular amountof data than one or more other communication components from theplurality of communication components, and the communication componentassociated with the first wireless communication technology uses morepower to establish and maintain the connection to the other device thanat least one other communication component from the plurality ofcommunication components.
 15. The wearable device of claim 11, furthercomprising: one or more motion sensors configured to detect motion ofthe wearable device and generate, based on the detected motion, motiondata, wherein the at least one module is further operable by the one ormore processors to: determine, based on the motion data, whether thewearable device is currently being worn; responsive to determining thatthe wearable device is currently being worn: determine whether thewearable device is connected to the other device using the communicationcomponent associated with the second wireless communication technology,wherein the communication component associated with the second wirelesscommunication technology uses less power to establish and maintain aconnection with the other device than the communication componentassociated with the first wireless communication technology; andresponsive to determining that the wearable device is connected to theother device using the communication component associated with thesecond wireless communication technology, disable the communicationcomponent associated with the first wireless communication technology.16. The wearable device of claim 11, wherein the at least one module isfurther operable by the one or more processors to: responsive todetermining that the wearable device cannot connect to the other deviceusing the communication component associated with the first wirelesscommunication technology, determine whether the wearable device canconnect to the other device using the communication component associatedwith the second wireless communication technology from the plurality ofwireless communication technologies, wherein the communication componentassociated with the first wireless communication technology uses lesspower to establish and maintain a connection with the other device thanthe communication component associated with the second wirelesscommunication technology; and responsive to determining that thewearable device can connect to the other device using the secondwireless communication technology: establish the connection to the otherdevice using the communication component associated with the secondwireless communication technology; and configuring the communicationcomponent associated with the first wireless communication technology tooperate in a reduced power mode.
 17. The wearable device of claim 11,further comprising: a power component configured to store power, whereinthe at least one module is further operable by the one or moreprocessors to: determine a rate at which power is being used by thewearable device; predict a future time at which the wearable device isgoing to be connected to a charger; and responsive to predicting, basedon the rate at which power is being used by the wearable device and thefuture time, that the power component of the wearable device is going torun out of power prior to the future time, disable all communicationcomponents other than the communication component associated with thefirst wireless communication technology.